Lifeline’s heart in foster care includes loving, gospel-centered relationships with biological parents. Working toward the goal of reconciliation, we love to partner with our foster families to provide a safe and loving home for children while also loving their parents. Read about one of our families’ experience showing the love of Christ to a precious mother:
“When the boys first came into our care, they had an established visit with their mom every week, with the Department of Human Resources (DHR) providing transportation. Once school started, we realized this schedule wouldn’t work because we would have to check the boys out of school early; keeping them in school all day was important. We decided to change the visit day and agreed to help with transportation. This change was the start of our relationship with the boys’ birth mother as it allowed us to see her each week, talk to her, get to know more about her, and slowly build trust.
The first time we met her was, honestly, a little weird. We weren’t sure how she would perceive us or respond to us, and we knew that it might be uncomfortable for her to know that we were parenting her children. She was shy at first, but as the visits continued, we saw her more and more, and she started to open up to us.
Then the day came that she was able to take leave from her treatment program for a day. She called us and asked if she could see her sons. We talked it over with our social worker, and all agreed that this would be in the best interest of the birth mother and her sons. We picked her up at her treatment program and all went to lunch. That lunch was our first outing with her, and we’ve had many more since that day.
Over the past few months, we have had numerous interactions with her. In addition to a few lunches together, we have included her in the boys’ lives by taking her to the Pumpkin Patch and Disney on Ice with us. We also took the boys to a special fall event at her treatment program. The most recent outing was Thanksgiving, when she was able to join our extended family for Thanksgiving. She has also been to church with us on a couple of occasions, and we make sure to have lunch afterwards. She also invited us to her six-month graduation at her treatment program, and we were able to see her be baptized then, too. She has never once said anything negative about us caring for her children and actually talked highly of us in a recent newsletter. She said, “My children have been placed with an amazing family while I take this journey of renewal and transformation with Christ.” We have definitely seen God work in His mysterious way throughout our relationship.
Our relationship has been great, and we attribute that to God and His hand in this relationship. We are glad that she feels comfortable calling us, and we include her in parenting decisions. We know that this journey isn’t easy for her, and we always make sure she knows we are there for her and her sons. We plan to continue our relationship with their family even after the boys return to her care.”